The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated from a cross pollination of the seed parent, an unpatented, undistributed proprietary variety of Begonia boliviensis known as ‘02/03 #1’ with the pollen parent, an unpatented proprietary selection of Begonia boliviensis referred to as ‘Dwarf Boliviensis’ directed by the inventor in February of 2007. The crossing was made in Palmerston North, New Zealand, at a commercial greenhouse.
‘Nzcthree’ was discovered by the inventor, Ed Morgan in December 2007 in Palmerston, New Zealand at a commercial greenhouse among seedlings resulting from the February 2007 crossing.
After selection of the new cultivar, asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘Nzcthree’ was first performed in the same commercial greenhouse by vegetative cuttings. ‘Nzcthree’ has since produced several generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.